my bearded dragon is listless, her back legs appear paralysed

Resolved Question:

my bearded dragon is listless, her back legs appear paralysed and are straight back by her tale, her front legs are folded, her eyes are sunken. She is trying to move but can't. She doesn't go under her lamp and she can't catch the crickets.

You Have some serious husbandry issue that may be going on. The alpine bedding is very dangerous as it can cause an internal blockage that can cause paralysis. The next problem you have is that the Dragon needs a UVB light as well as a daily calcium supplement to help prevent Metabolic Bone Disease which can also cause paralysis. The diet of greens you are feeding is wrong as lettuce hold no nutritional vaue and carrots can cause eyeproblems if given on a regular basis. YOu temps are also critical to the health and well being of your Dragon. I am going to give you my care sheet tyo read and once you do hit reply so we can start some first aid and give you some names of Herp Vets in your area. THisDragon will need to be seen asap. Joan

Bearded dragons live as much as 10-12 years if well cared for properly.

Bearded dragons have a very good temperament as long as they are cared for and handled.

When you bring your baby home, it may be quite stressful to him/her to get use to new home. May not eat well the first 2-3 days. They may not need to be handled the first 2-3 days if skittish and nervous.

Never use sand or any other type of loose substrate: Loose substrates can cause impaction (not being able to go Poop) in all ages of bearded dragons- they lick their environment to explore .It is difficult to keep germ free and clean. Ceramic tile, newspaper, non adhesive shelf liner and reptile carpet is what is most recommended. Use paper towels for the little one and as they get bigger you can change to something else.

Be sure you keep your beardies home as clean as you can. Clean up by spot cleaning when needed. Clean & sanitize entire tank every 10-14 days. A good cleaning solution is a 20% bleach solution. If you choose to use wood climbing branches etc, these should be soaked in the bleach solution and rinsed well. Then bake in 250 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Need a climbing accessory: to bask and to warm up under basking heat light and lower branches or platforms to come down and cool off.

A hide of some sort like a cave.

A food dish and water dish.

Plastic spray bottle

Can use artificial plants when they get older- 3 months or so.

Digital thermostat and/or temp gun

Tank size: Minimal size tank for this age is 20 gallon long

Minimal size for older beardie: 4 months of age: 40 gallon breeder is the minimal tank size for older dragon. Can divide a 40 gallon breeder for a smaller dragon. Must have two lights for your beardie.

1. A UVB light source-best is 10.0 Reptisun that runs the length of your tank. Your dragon must have this light to metabolize calcium. If not he will get metabolic bone disease, a serious condition. You can also take your beardie outside to bask in the sun for 15 minutes each day if your temps are 80 degrees or above outside. You can purchase cages or reptariums from your pet store. Never leave a beardie outside unattended. 2. A basking type light that puts out heat and warmth above basking spot. Your beardie must have warmth to digest food & thrive.

Lights should be on for 12-14 hours each day. Follow the seasons and light timers are a great luxury if you can get them. 6 dollars at Lowe's. No lights or warmth needed at night unless your temperatures get below 62 degrees. If they do, there are ceramic heat emitters that put out no light, only heat. Use these at night if temperatures fall below 62 degrees.

Feeding a Beardie: Beardies eat live prey consisting of crickets, roaches and/or silkworms. Never feed any size of mice to your beardie. Never feed meal worms. They also must be given greens/veggies everyday. The younger they are the more live prey they should have. As they grow older the live prey decreases and the veggies/greens should be the major part of diet. Never feed anything bigger, than the space between your beardie's eyes. This includes both live prey and pieces of veggies/greens,

What is live prey? The easiest and less expensive live prey is crickets when you have a young or first beardie. The other live preys you can feed are silkworms, and special types of roaches. You can learn to raise your own live prey. Treats can be wax worms, super worms, and tomato/Goliath worms. You may find that ordering live prey from the internet is the way to go..... Never leave live prey or greens/veggies in tank overnight. . Crickets can bite your beardie when sleeping.

Babies should get 80% live prey, and 20 % greens/veggies. But since the greens/veggies are a must when they are older, get them eating their greens/veggies very early. Give greens/veggies in small pieces everyday. You should eventually start decreasing your older dragon's protein intake when they are about a year to 15 months old. Their protein intake decreases to 20 % live prey and 80% veggies/greens.

A baby the size of yours can eat 50-75 crix a day. Never feed crix or veggies bigger than the space between your beardie's eyes. Use this guide when buying crix or chopping your greens/veggies.

You must provide calcium dust without D3 and multivitamin dust for your beardie. You should dust the live prey with calcium one time a day, and vitamins 3 times a week. Just collect your live prey into baggie and add enough calcium and vitamin to dust them. Then pour a few at a time into your tank. Some people feed their beardie in a separate tank so that no crickets can hide. Or some take out "furniture" from tank and feed this way. As they get older, 4-5 months or so dust live prey with calcium 3 times a week.

Feed the veggies/ greens 1st thing in morning after lights on for one hour at least. Then after 2-3 hours offer crix. Then freshen green/veggies. Then give more crix. Make sure after last crix feeding there is at least 1-2 hours of lights so that they can digest their food before night time.

*Beardies over the age of one year old during the winter months will go into a Brumation like most Reptiles and Herps. It is a form of Hibernation that is governed by the weather and time of year. The lights should be on a shorter period at this time. Fresh greens should be available during this period. Do not feed live prey during Brumation.

Water: Mist your little one with the spray bottle 3-4 times a day. You can also offer a small dish of water in your enclosure but be sure your dragon is not too small to drown in it. It is recommended that when your beardie is 2 months old you can bathe your baby in a small plastic container with warm water- not hot. It will help them to stay hydrated. As they get older you can move up to the bathroom sink and then to the bathtub. Very important for bath enclosure to be thoroughly cleaned and rinsed prior to bath time. Clean between dragons too if bathing more than one.

The first thing is to give the Dragon a nice soak in 1/2 plain pedilayte and 1/2 warm water. You will need to start the Dragon on the proper diet listed in the care sheet. Dust all prey with calcium powder and make sure the prey is no bigger than the space between the eyes. You will need a tube type UVB 10.0 light to be used 12-14 hours day. You can even take some baby food chicken and mix the calcium powder in the chicken baby food and drop on the snout and allow the dragon to lick it off. Do not try to force feed since it can cause aspiration into the lungs. I willgive you a link to Herp Vets in the area. It is important to get the Dragon in asap. Joan

At thisage plain paper is fine, paper towels, cage carpert, slate or what I use is ceramic tile that I can lift out and washas needed.I have seen too many problems with a loose substrate, especially in young dragons. Please saty away from the supoosed safe substrates that the pet shops sell as they are the worst. Please see the link on calci sand. It is the same for all loose substrates. If you want something more decorative the cage carpet is good. easy to wash and dry. Joan

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